SLIDE 9 Refresh Cycle - must happen sufficiently often!
A DRAM has a multiplexed address bus and the address is presented in two halves, known as row and column addresses. So the capacity is 4**A x D. A 4 Mbit DRAM might have A=10 and D=4. When a processor (or its cache) wishes to read many locations in sequence, only one row address needs be given and multiple col addresses can be given quickly to access data in the same row. This is known as ‘page mode’ access. EDO (extended data out) DRAM is now quite common. This guarantees data to be valid for an exteneded period after CAS, thus helping system timing design at high CAS rates.
Multiplexed Address Data Bus Valid data High-Z High-Z Read Cycle (write is similar) Read or write mode select Row Address Col Address Row Address Strobe (RAS) Row Address Strobe (CAS)
Row Address Strobe (RAS) Row Address Strobe (CAS) No data enters or leaves the DRAM during refresh, so it ‘eats memory bandwidth’. Typically 512 cycles of refresh must be done every 8 milliseconds. Data In and Out Multiplexed Address In Row Address Strobe (RAS) RAS MAddr Data N A
DRAM
R/Wb Read or write mode select Row Address Strobe (CAS) CAS
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